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Major elec problem, can anyone help?

Hi guys and gals, I've wanted to join in the past but never found the time. Well now I have the time because I can't ride...

My friend and I installed Heat Demons on my 2000 R1100R factory grips Friday and they work very well. The problem is during the process we broke something and we can't figure out what. We tapped in to 12v on the yellow/white wire under the tank forward of the connector, picked up the ground at the headlight-all using posi-locks. We used the factory BMW switch that I purchased separately.

I removed all posi-locks and returned to pre-install condition, replaced F1 15amp fuse and it blows INSTANTLY! Disconnected the connecter, replaced fuse, POP! Blown again. I removed the tank and went over all the harnesses and cannot find anything obvious. I have a multimeter and I have checked continuity at the connector I spliced into and the blue wire does not have continuity and does have a draw on it of .64ohms. We did not touch the blue wire so I am a bit confused. Blue appears to be alternator.

I need a good wire diagram but I haven't been able to locate one. I have found the color diagrams for the GS model online, but I don't know how accurate they are.

I can't tell you where your problem is but I do have a troubleshooting method that I use to find why fuses are blowing without having to replace a bunch of fuses. Remove the fuse first. Put one lead of your ohmmeter on the load side of the fuse that blows and the other lead on a good ground. You should read a low resistance since your fuse is blowing. When you find the problem and correct it the resistance will go considerably higher.

2004 R1150RT 171,200 miles , 1991 K100LT 128,700 miles, 1982 R100RT 106,900 miles
Total 406,800 BMW miles
AMA,BMWRA,BMWMOA
The cheapest thing on a BMW is the nut that connects the handlebars to the seat.

Better yet with a dead short like that, take a 12 v bulb, headlight is the easiest, and connect it across the fuse terminals with a couple of test leads, it will light up but control the current so you don't fry the wiring.

The light is an easy to see indicator. Next start to wiggle, unplug, twist and shake parts of the wiring harness, if the light goes dim, or flickers, you are narrowing down the culprit, an ohm meter is a very poor way to test as something as little as an instrument resistance bulb will show ZERO resistance, which means unplugging everything on the circuit to see no resistance. Plus you might not see a "flicker" in the reading, that is easy to see watching the bulb. It will never go off, as there is normal circuit draw, that is why a 12v low watt test light is also a poor choice, it will always look bright due to the normal draw.

Another trick is to get a small compass, and hold it close to the harness, while connecting and disconnecting the "jumper bulb" (easier to do with help). The compass needle will jump if near the wire carrying high currents. Keep moving it down stream and once you go past the short, the deflection will be much less.

My guess is you pinched a wire someplace during the tank removal/replacement.

Yellow/white wire is the wire bringing headlight power to the high beam switch. Just think, if you had the Euro version headlight on/off switch, that switch would also turn on/off your kludged-up heated handgrips!

Yellow/white wire is the wire bringing headlight power to the high beam switch. Just think, if you had the Euro version headlight on/off switch, that switch would also turn on/off your kludged-up heated handgrips!

Yellow/white wire is the wire bringing headlight power to the high beam switch. Just think, if you had the Euro version headlight on/off switch, that switch would also turn on/off your kludged-up heated handgrips!

Originally Posted by 1911XD

I'm pretty happy with the factory grip heat switch

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kludge :
A kludge (or kluge) is a workaround, a quick-and-dirty solution, a clumsy, inelegant, difficult to extend, hard to maintain yet effective and quick solution to a problem, and a rough synonym to the terms "jury rig", "Jugaad" or "jerry rig". This term is used in diverse fields such as computer science, aerospace engineering, internet slang, and evolutionary neuroscience.

I think lkchris was questioning the wisdom of running your heated grips off a non-fused headlight circuit that may be inadequate for the combined draw.

Which reminds me that I may want to add a couple fuses, some fresh wire and a relay before using my 100W high beam much more.

Ok, so the green/black wire checks out good, pretty sure anyway. Since the fuse is blown it would make since that the gauges and lights fail. I tried the compass deal, but I think to many other wires are energized to make that method affective.

The white wire with the yellow tracer is where the 12v power was taken for the heaters. OK, that was dumb and I will not do that gain. From the schematics I can find it shows that wire goes from the left grip to the right. However, I know it goes further than that because it goes into the main harness and I have continuity from the splice point to the fuse box. I cannot go from the splice forward to the controls.

Well I figured it out! Load Relief Relay, swapped it with the horn relay, it worked. Went to O'Riely's and they happened to have one in stock for $9.99 (not BMW brand so I put that one on the horn). Next time I will start with the simple things first

Of course I found this after completely dissembling the front of the bikes and all of the controls. Well at least I learned how it all goes together.

Well I figured it out! Load Relief Relay, swapped it with the horn relay, it worked. Went to O'Riely's and they happened to have one in stock for $9.99 (not BMW brand so I put that one on the horn). Next time I will start with the simple things first

Of course I found this after completely dissembling the front of the bikes and all of the controls. Well at least I learned how it all goes together.

Well guys, thanks for the help and diagrams!

Glad to hear things are working.

I don't want to be the Grinch That Stole Christmas but it's hard to see why either the Load Relief or Horn relays would affect the Fuse 1 circuit. I'm guessing you moved enough wires that the short unshorted itself. Time will tell.

That said I do hope that you're right and I'm just missing the connection.

I don't want to be the Grinch That Stole Christmas but it's hard to see why either the Load Relief or Horn relays would affect the Fuse 1 circuit. I'm guessing you moved enough wires that the short unshorted itself. Time will tell.

That said I do hope that you're right and I'm just missing the connection.

Check the 2nd scematic down on this link, it is a great pdf. Both F1 & F7 link to the load relief relay. F7 was empty on my bike because that is the fuse for the factory grip heaters. I located the factory wiring harness for the grip heaters and utilized F7. No wires were shorted.

Looks like your final result qualifies for a "well done" at the troubleshooting plus a reminder about the potential problems with shortcut wiring methods- especially if you hate redoing electrical stuff as much as I do.